Sunday, January 2, 2011

Inspiration: James Reitano.

I could go on and on about how I probably owe this guy for getting me any kind of start at what I do for a living now but instead I'll just ramble about how he's been such an influence to me and most likely anyone I know coming out of Santa Cruz, especially anyone in my crew. A timeless graffiti style (something I should have paid closer attention to at the time), his work for Santa Cruz Skateboards, design, animation, character design...James has always stood out as an individual to me and I'm thankful for that.

I could also go on about how great of a guy he is, but I won't right now. James currently runs TFU Studios out of Los Angeles and also has this blog where he's been dropping plenty of gems lately.

You might have seen his work on the instant classic Madvillain video, All Caps...

...and then shortly after, the Kidrobot produced Madvillain figure...

...followed by countless other projects. Make sure to check out the video he did for Biz Markie, also. James recently released the 3rd Volume of his comic, Nineteen Eighty Five. Available at Meltdown Comics among other fine establishments, you should pick this up for sure, he's been hand making the display stands himself and they're awesome.